Rock, Sabina (2024) Magic is Only Magic Until it's Science; Unifying Art/Science Pedagogy for Sustainability. Masters thesis, Concordia University.
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Abstract
As educators it is part of our job to ensure the long-term best interest of our students. At this point in our history, it is common knowledge that the number one threat to the futures of students is climate change. It is therefore imperative to adjust our teaching methods accordingly by engaging in more sustainable, accessible, cross-disciplinary practices to address this concern.
It is also common knowledge that, for several hundred years now, the fields of the arts and the sciences have been considered as separate from each other; this despite the fact that the two fields were once indistinguishable. Isaac Asimov writes that, by the 1800s, the exponential nature of scientific discovery made it impossible for one person to master all the sciences and that, “… with each generation of scientists, specialization has grown more and more intense” (Asimov, 1985, p.138). This, he goes on to say, renders scientists as “magicians – feared rather than admired” in the eyes of those who have studied other topics (Asimov, 1985, p. 138). He also writes that one of the most integral components of scientific advancement is the ability for scientists to better communicate: this is a double-edged sword in the age of Facebook. The specialization/mystification of science combined with an abundance of social media has left us with an issue: those who do not choose to study the sciences specifically are taught very little science. The result of this has become an internet hailstorm of false information amongst a well-meaning public that simply struggles to tell good science from bad. Mercifully, the solution is simply to make scientific concepts more palatable for those who may not possess a particularly scientific mind. After all, an individual may easily understand scientific concepts without actually being a scientist by profession. Isaac Asimov words the same notion slightly differently, stating that a person does not necessarily need to be able to write a symphony to enjoy hearing one (Asimov, 1985). Either way, the sentiment is the same.
Over the past year and a half, I plunged into a studio thesis process which addressed the question: how can I bring both scientific precision and sustainability into my visual arts practice and how might this inform art education practices? I researched ways we can bring scientific precision into more visual arts projects. To do this I began by using Steiner and Kolb’s philosophies, along with the scientific method, and embarked upon a research-creation thesis that explored the above-mentioned questions. The result of my research has been this paper, and a documentary of the same name.
| Divisions: | Concordia University > Faculty of Fine Arts > Art Education |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
| Authors: | Rock, Sabina |
| Institution: | Concordia University |
| Degree Name: | M.A. |
| Program: | Art Education |
| Date: | 20 March 2024 |
| Thesis Supervisor(s): | Blair, Lorrie and Vaughan, Kathleen |
| Keywords: | Wool, Sustainability, Waldorf, Steiner, Kolb, Science, Art, Science/Art, Art/Science, Cross-Disciplinary, Research-Creation, Textile, Distance-Education, Future-Thinking, Education, Art-Education |
| ID Code: | 993552 |
| Deposited By: | Sabina Rock |
| Deposited On: | 04 Jun 2024 14:06 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Jun 2024 14:06 |
| Related URLs: | |
| Additional Information: | Please note that the same information is contained in both the paper and video components of this thesis, minus some reference photos. Therefore, the reader is welcome to choose either the paper or the documentary and is not required to view both in order to grasp the concept (although I will be deeply flattered by anyone who does choose to view both). In addition - this thesis must never be physically printed as it is formatted here and must be modified before print. It would be hypocrisy for me to endorse a formatting style that demands so many near-blank pages in a thesis about sustainability. |
References:
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